Karen Carpenter recorded her vocal for "Do You Hear What I Hear?" in 1978 during the sessions for the "Christmas Portrait" record album, but the song was left unfinished at the time because too many songs had been recorded for the project. Richard Carpenter later completed production on this track and several others in 1984 (the year after Karen's passing) for inclusion in the duo's second Yuletide album, "An Old Fashioned Christmas."